Despite high expectations, no change was seen in activity levels, measured by steps per day, over the study period. Without evidenced improvements in this key metric, Boehringer chose to forego a considerable investment in the program, avoiding losses in an arena that other investors later found to be lackluster. 

The deployment also unearthed new opportunities for wearables that later proved to predict where the overall industry was moving. Employees in the study who selected to use the device to support doctor-recommended and medical goals saw improved activity levels, indicating a clinical use case for the product. The market for wearables today reflects this insight, as many wearable companies pivoted their consumer-facing products to medical-grade devices. Sleep levels improved across the entire cohort, suggesting that wearables can be used to support healthy sleep, a lesser-understood but important preventive health behavior that is now being explored more deeply in wearables made by Apple and others.